BARCLAYS Bank has three times as many customers after snapping up stockbroker Gerrard.
The £210m deal will boost the banking group's presence in the wealth management sector.
The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of the year and will add about 116,000 accounts to Barclays' 45,000-strong portfolio.
Barclays said the deal created the UK's largest private client investment business, with £21.4bn of assets under management.
A spokeswoman for Gerrard, which operates nationwide including Newcastle, Teesside and York, said Barclays was attracted to the deal by the strength of the stockbroker's regional network of offices.
The company had recently planned to merge its Teesside and York offices, but failed to find an appropriate site in York before the lease ran out on its offices in Stockton. This forced Gerrard to sign a new 18-month lease.
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